Avoiding spam has been one of the most difficult things to do. However there are some measures that you put to prevent or even reduce the number of spam mails coming to your address. If you intend to prevent these unsolicited mails, it is important for you to be careful on giving your email address as it can easily be harvested by spammers. You can be able to know if your email is available to spammers by tying it in a search engine in the web. Where you notice that the email is available in any website where it is likely to be harvested by spammers you should remove it immediately in order for you to be able to avoid spam. You should also avoid including your email address when making a reply to newsgroup postings.
Also it is important to note that most of the ISP offer email addresses that are free. Therefore if you intend to prevent spam, you can set up at least two email addresses. You can use one of the emails to subscribe to newsletters or even posting on forums. You can also use the other address to communicate with your friends and even colleagues. A more complex address is likely to attract less spam than the rest. Also where the ISP offers a spam filter it is important to enable it. Any missed spam should be reported to the ISP. This is important as it reduce the amount of spam your and the other clients of the internet service provider receives. Incase the ISP does not offer the resource of a spam filter; you can try and use an anti-spam software. This is also effective in reducing the spam that is sent to your email.
Special precautions should also be made when filling forms in the web. For instance you can check and see the privacy policy of the site to confirm whether there is a possibility of your address being passed to any other company. Some of the websites may contain a checkbox which gives you the chance to opt out of mailings from other parties. You should ensure that you make use of this resource.
It is also important for you to ensure that you do not respond to any spam mails. Avoid replying even when it is to request for your address to be removed from their mailing list. This just confirms to the sender that the email address is valid and their mail has not been filtered. Also you confirm of having opened the message and read it. This makes the spammer to find your address more valuable than those that they aren’t aware whether their mails were delivered. Spammers have a better interest in the list of emails that have been confirmed.
Whenever it is possible, you should try to avoid opening the spam mails. This is because in most of the times the spammers are able to find out how many of their messages have been opened. You should also avoid licking on any link provided by a spam mail as much as possible. This is because in most of the times they contain a code that enables them to read the email address. Also you should avoid buying any goods from spammers. This is because it is the clients who buy from them that keep them in business. You should also ensure that the antivirus software of your computer is always up to date. Also you should avoid clicking on any suspicious link. If your email address keeps receiving so much spam, you can consider closing it and opening a new one.
